Gayle.

Here is the little guy who's coming from South Australia to live with us next month. His name is Isaak and he's a very special little man. He will be co-owned with the breeder and is going to be shown in Vic, and handled by another DOLer.

I'm in. We have some candles we won at a dog show....now is the perfect time to use them.

There are quite a number of dogs she's bred doing extremely well in agility and obedience...not sure about herding, I don't really take much notice of that. The vast majority of pups bred by registered breeders end up in pet homes, so why shouldn't excellent temperament be a valuable critieria to aim for....along with everything else? Her and her husband imported Bensons sire from Sweden, so they could introduce different lines into their breeding program. To be honest, I don't think that's a hallmark of someone who doesn't know what they're doing. She is actually a very highly respected authority on dogs and animal psychology. I thought you may have met her in your previous occupation.....she travels a lot and lectures all around the country and overseas. Aaside from being a really nice person, she is extremely interesting to talk to.

Do you know her?

Oh my god. How absolutely bloody devestating. My thoughts are with jed ad her remaining animals.

They used to.

I felt like I'd wasted a year of my life, having everything on hold while we sold the other place. But once we found this place, it was so worth it! We have fishponds, a duckpond.....nothing to put in them yet though.....a really solid and secure chicken coop, vege gardens, awesome established trees and shrubs and everything we could possibly want. The dogs are having a blast here, although for the first few days they had to stay in the pergola area cos the side gate was too far off the ground and they could just go under it and onto the road. We fixed that by attaching some boards to the base of the gate and they were then allowed free reign of the place. So what did Dusty do? Sat at the back door and whined all day cos I was inside and she wasn't! Now though, they've got the hang of all this extra space and whenever I go outside, they come running from whatever they've been exploring down the back. We also live in a really beautiful little village now, it's flat with great walking tracks, a rail trail and some nice open bush areas. Here they are locked in their "pergola prison" before they got their freedom.

I would disagree. Breeders of excellence breed dogs that excel in their field. They cannot do that without some sort of competition. Your breeder doesn't sound excellent, she sounds like she breeds good pets though. Breeders of excellence also produce pet quality, but their goal is to produce something more than just nice, friendly, healthy dogs. Are agility, obedience and herding not competitions?

They do win in the ring...the pups and their offspring do. The breeder, however, doesn't show her dogs. ETA, in fact one dog from this breeder was the first tailed Aussie to gain a championship title in Australia.

There's no need to show dogs to be a good breeder. My boy came from an excellent breeder who doesn't show her dogs. She breeds puppies who make superb companions, live long and healthy lives and excel at whatever activity their owner might want them to try. They conform to the standard, the parents are hip-scored and health tested, the matings are done carefully with an eye to excellent temperament and my boy is one of the nicest, friendliest dogs I have ever met.

and last but not least, Dusty showing off her off leash park.

We moved last week, to a property more suitable for dogs. We now have 3/4 acre, a big rambling house, lots of sheds and our very own securely fenced "off leash park"....aka, our paddock. it's fabulous, so the dogs modelled for me in various locations around the place. Pics taken with my babycam......Panasonic LX3.

Wow! He is gorgeous! I love the full black face, cos my handsome man is one of the rare Australian Shepherds with a black face and I think it give them a certain "devil-may-care" look

For a dog that loves the car, it's not one very long trip. It's a series of journeys. Once you stop and have a break, for the dog getting back in the car is like a whole new trip....it's not a continuation of the previous one. The dog will absolutely love it!

I drove from Traralgon (SE Vic) to Wagga...a trip of about 8 hours.....with an 8 month old pup. She was fine, she slept most of the way and when we stopped for food, she'd have a run around, a drink and a small snack. She is very used to travelling though, as I showed her from when she was 3 months old and shows for us were always about a 2 hour drive.

Our butcher is anothervof the fabulous ones. I buy all our meat from him. And if he sees me there, he'll let me know if he's just made fresh pet mince, or if he's got some offcuts suitable for the dogs. It's good to find a butcher you can build a rapport with and know they can also cater for your pets.

She is very cute! I met a Japanese Spitz ealier this week. I stopped at the bank at 7.30 am to use the ATM on my way to work, and as I walked towards it, I saw a white fluffy dog at the window of a car parked near mine. I smiled and turned to my daughter who was sitting in my car and pointed to the dog. She got out to see it and the owner wound the window down so she could pat him. He was 6 months old and absolutely delightful. As I was waiting for my money, I asked my daughter if she knew what breed it was. She said no and I told her it was a Japanese Spitz. The owner looked VERY surprised and said "How did you know???" I told him I have a dog that I show occasionally and get to see lots of different breeds at dog shows, but this was the first time I'd seen a JS outside of a show. I think he was pretty chuffed that I recognised his breed.

Dusty's is not only a weird length.......short but not extreme....but she has a kink in it. How many dogs manage to have a natural bob tail but get a kink in the only extra vertabrae nature left them with?

I'd like instructions on how to give a cat that yellow worm paste. Cos my cats managed to expand 1 ml of yellow paste to cover the drapes, the furniture, the walls....and themselves!

I agree with this Gayle, and also add... No, I didn't chop off half her tail (she has a long bob tail) No, she is not a husky cross dalmation ! (merle with blue eyes!) Yes, she can see out of her blue eyes... what colour are yours! Blue? Can you see fine? Hahaha, Agree with what you and GayleK said..... I get asked about her tail ALL the time!!!!! I just start the conversation with that now There was a party next door the other night (I live where there are alot of uni students) and this drunk guy came up to the fence and said - oh look at the MONGREL with NO TAIL!!! NOTHING BUT A MONGREL!!!!! I was pretty p**sed off!!!!!! Oh yeah, the tail. She WAS SO born like that and no, it wasn't chopped off to suit the fashion. In fact, I'd like to think that a vet would do a whole lot neater job of tail docking than nature did on Dusty! And yes, they are both the same breed. Look a bit closer.....they do look alike, just he doesn't have as much white as her. (I frequently get asked what breeds my dogs are, not many people realise they are the same breed.)

They aren't Australian, and they aren't border collies.

Traralgon, Victoria. The chicken shop at Manny's Market has frames, necks, offcuts etc for $1 kg. Rutters Butchers at the same market have meaty bones and pet mince (no preservatives, contains offal) for $1.49 kg. They also have pigs trotters, ox tails and other various animal parts for varying prices. If you can't see what you want, ask cos they are always very happy to see what else they've got in the storeroom.

Hahaha, I thought that too. She is an adorable little dog, I love the fuzzy face...it's just another look a poodle can carry off beautifully.

It also goes a way to explain why, even though dogs of a certain breed match the standard, they may look slightly different to another dog of the same breed that also matches the standard. Like with Australian Shepherds (and no doubt other breeds) particular bloodlines bring particular traits to the breed and they can give dogs from that line a certain "look" or "type" that may not be shared by dogs from different bloodlines.

I wouldn't be adding gravy too often, it's very high in salt and won't be doing the dogs kidneys any good if it's fed on a regular basis.